THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 30, 1994 TAG: 9410300176
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PHOENIX LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
At Rockingham last weekend, after Dale Earnhardt won his seventh Winston Cup championship to tie the record set by Richard Petty, reporters went to Petty's hauler for his reaction, only to find him gone.
One could have thought, naturally enough, that Petty might be slightly ticked that this generation's premier stock-car racer was upstaging him; that the King might somehow be forgotten in the veneration of the new champion.
``No, I was just busy,'' Petty said Friday at Phoenix International Raceway.
Petty said he had no qualms about Earnhardt tying his record. Especially Earnhardt.
``When I talk about champions of NASCAR, then I want to have somebody who's a winner. And Earnhardt is definitely a winner. He races to win races, so you ain't got nobody backing into nothing. He's got one speed, and that's wide open, and that's the way the champion ought to be.''
The natural question, of course, is who is better, Petty or Earnhardt?
``There's no way you can say one was better than the other, because they're always running under different circumstances,'' Petty said. ``You can compare me with (David) Pearson and you can compare me with Cale (Yarborough), and any one of these drivers dominated certain segments of their careers. But when you throw them all into a box and ask who was the best NASCAR driver there ever was, there ain't no such animal.
``Back then, people didn't run for the championship,'' he said. ``The races paid more money than the championship, so we ran to win races. 1979 was probably the only time I really run for the championship'' and won, he said.
``It used to be that when we run, if you had trouble, you just pulled the car behind the wall. You didn't worry about that day. They don't do that now.''
``I think Junior (Johnson) was probably the first car owner to get into trying to win championships. You know, he got into a deal where he would change motors during the race and stuff like that.''
Johnson, ironically, never tried to win a championship as a driver. He was never interested in running the full season.
The thing that is so interesting about Earnhardt's domination of the championship is that it has come at a time when stock car racing is more competitive than ever.
At North Wilkesboro earlier this month, the difference between Jimmy Spencer's pole-winning speed and that of the last-place starter was less than three-tenths of a second. And Earnhardt's seven titles have come in only 15 full-time seasons on the Winston Cup series.
Said Petty: ``It's destiny. It's something that gets beyond any of us. And we can't control that.
``All of these drivers that are here today are good drivers or they wouldn't be here. But there's still just three or four winners. Now, who picks them, I don't know. That's destiny. I had no control over my deal. I was destined to do what I done and that was it, even though I had to work at it.''
It seemed natural enough, then, to ask Earnhardt about destiny and his incredible record. And his answer seemed to provide the key clue to his success.
``If you look at his (Richard Petty's) career and his background and where he came from and what he grew up in, he grew up the same way I did. He grew up in a racing environment,'' Earnhardt said. ``That's what he pursued. I do what I do, and I'm sure (car owner) Richard (Childress) did the same, because it was natural to do. It's what you were meant to do or put here to do.''
Then Earnhardt got to the heart of the matter.
``It's just a natural thing for me to race,'' he said.
``I'm so at ease driving a race car in competition, it's really ridiculous to think about. I'm more tense sitting here talking to press guys and to go out with the fans than I am driving a race car.
``When I'm in that car, I'm a pretty relaxed character. My heart rate is probably about 80 right now talking to you guys. When I'm in that car, it's probably about 60. That's what I enjoy doing. It seems like I was put here to do that.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Richard Petty
by CNB